


A Million More

by Satine86



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Genre: 5+1, And then they kiss, Character Study, Crystal Tokyo Era, F/M, Light Angst, Mild Language, Silver Millennium Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-13
Packaged: 2018-12-01 21:03:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11494704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Satine86/pseuds/Satine86
Summary: Across the span of three life times, Nephrite has always dreamt about her lips on his.





	A Million More

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the amazing WillowMae as part of a compilation gift for her wedding! YAY! :D

~ “You have no idea how many times I’ve wondered what it would be like to kiss you.” ~

1.

The reason for their first meeting is hardly anything noteworthy; a political summit, two sides aiming for peace that will likely fail within days. She is part of the visiting delegation, a guard and an ambassador.

She stands proudly behind her queen and princess, shoulders back and head held high. She looks just as fierce as the rumors portray her to be. A powerful warrior, literally head and shoulders above the rest.

He believes she is the most striking woman he has ever laid eyes on, more so than the Moon Queen or her daughter, both beautiful and remote with their silver hair and pale skin and luminous eyes. Or any of the inner court, all stunning in their own right, but with her there is something more.

Her wide eyes seem to glitter like emeralds, and they appear just as sharp; ready to cut you down if you offend her or her charges. Her auburn hair tumbles regally down her back in a cascade of curls, the locks thick and shining and he wonders idly what it would feel like to bury his fingers in it. And her full, rosy lips that beg to be kissed.

He thinks he would like to kiss her, if he wasn’t certain she would deck him for such an offense.

Still, he ponders the idea and perhaps more as the peace talks drag on and on, all the voices of those gathered blending into a loud buzz that he pays little attention to. At one point he catches her eyes across the room, and she holds his gaze.

He knows she is bored as well, tired of words that always seem to lead nowhere. Promises that mean nothing. In the briefest moment he finds in her a kindred spirit, and that bolsters him. A smile starts to curve her lips, and he wonders if his thoughts are so easy for her to read.

If she’s offended, she doesn’t show it.

So he continues wondering what it would be like to kiss her while she smiled.

2.

He keeps wondering what it would be like to kiss her over the course of the next two, three, four meetings. And countless times between. He has never known a woman like her, and he is completely infatuated. She, however, seems to find him lacking.

She hardly spares him a glance, not after their first meeting with their gazes locked. Nephrite is certain that he has done something wrong, that something has given him away. Perhaps she knows his true desires, perhaps she has heard stories of the Shitennou and their exploits. Perhaps, and this one wounds his ego no matter how much he pretends otherwise, she simply finds him displeasing.

Still, he continues to wonder for many weeks, their paths crossing at various times. Mostly when their young charges insist on seeing one another, something that is both sweet and disconcerting.

It is on one such occasion that Nephrite finds himself shoved up against a pillar, neatly blocked by her towering frame. She’s close enough for him to feel her warmth, feel the brush of her chest against his with each inhale.

She surveys him again, much like she had the first time. She’s playful, her eyes bright and mischievous. The look suits her, he thinks. She smells floral sweet, undercut with a sharp scent almost like sandalwood. It’s intoxicating.

Her lips curve upward, and his eyes drop to follow the movement. A throaty laugh escapes her barely parted lips.

“Maybe, if you’re lucky.” she whispers, and then she’s gone in a swirl of flowing skirts and auburn curls. In the distance he can hear her deep voice calling for her princess.

Nephrite wets his lips. Maybe, if he is lucky.

3.

It is not a thought he should be having in the middle of a battle. His mind should be focused on what is happening before him, not indulging in some ill-conceived fantasy. And certainly not one that is so utterly ridiculous.

Unfortunately it continues to swirl about his mind, taunting and strange and almost as if it were a memory rather than a daydream. There are rose bushes and the moon hangs full and glowing in the clear sky. The stars glitter and dance like he has never seen before, they are loud and full of mirth.

She stands before him, resplendent in a green gown that seems to change colors in the moonlight. Who she is, he is not entirely sure and yet he knows her. And something about himself is changed. Something in him feels lighter… happy.

They stand facing each other and slowly she inches forward, just until her lips barely brush his in the sweetest of kisses. His senses are alight, in the distance he can hear crickets, and the breeze that gently rustles the leaves of the trees. He feels overly warm, but it is not unpleasant. And he can smell a sweet, floral scent unlike any other, and a sharp woody musk under it.

He feels as if he could get drunk off that scent alone.

Then he is himself again, and instead of crickets he can hear the crackling of electricity; can smell ozone instead of flowers. He jumps out of the way just in time, looking up to meet a pair of wide, glittering green eyes.

She is a stranger, this new senshi dressed in green, but she is familiar. That frightens him more than he can fathom, and in a blink he is gone. Running like frightened prey.

4.

The thought haunts him, and he supposes that is more than fair, since he is forced to linger as he is. Neither alive, nor dead. Not a ghost or a spirit. He is nothing and everything all at once.

Or perhaps that is too philosophical of way to look at it, and it just proves that he has been sitting far too close to Kunzite all these years. It might be better to adopt a more cavalier approach to it all, perhaps he should be like Jadeite.

‘We’re fucking rocks, guys.’

Either way he is not a part of this world, or the next. He is not a man or a shitennou or any type of being really. It is both a reprieve and a punishment, something he is thankful for and resentful of. Mostly he is resentful, because he exists but he also does not.

Which is why the thought haunts him the way it does: her lips against his, warm and firm and oh, so tender.

He knows what it is like to kiss her, and those are vivid memories he can draw on. So he does, tries to lose himself in a time before everything was destroyed, back when he was a decent man instead of a traitor. It usually works, for a while at least.

What truly haunts him though, is the idea of kissing her in this life, with a fresh start.

Unfortunately he knows that is not for them. Not with all he must atone for, and certainly not when he was just ‘a fucking rock.’

5.

Once, he had hoped for a new life and a fresh start. He finds actually being granted the a new life is so much different than what he had dreamt of.

Life on earth is changed, mostly for the better… or so he hopes. Everything seems to have moved on without him, without the shitennou. Life has found a way, and is always moving forward, as it should. As he had always hoped, though there is a sense of melancholy to it.

His chance to once again rejoin the world, to help shape it and watch it evolve firsthand, is unexpected and surely more than he deserves. Still, he takes it for what it is: a second chance. Or perhaps at this point it is a third. Either way he is bound and determined not to waste it.

Their return is received with a range of emotions: anger, distrust, resentment, indifference. They all promise they will do what they can to earn the trust the Queen and King have bestowed upon them, they promise the same to the senshi. It is formal, the time for personal relationships seems to have been lost.

He is surprised that she watches him from afar, affecting a flippant air. And he is much reminded of the very first time they had met. When she meets his gaze across the room, he knows she is remembering the same.

Idly, and most certainly against his better judgment, he ponders again what it would be like to kiss her. Now. In this new world, with their new lives.

When a small smile curves the corner of her mouth, he dares to hope for the future.

+1.

The day is warm, the skies clear and a gentle breeze coasting through the flowerbeds, making certain the temperature remained ideal.

The flowers themselves are in full bloom, the gardens full of peonies, just starting to droop under the weight their fat purple blooms. Rhododendrons in vibrant reds and hot pink and soft white with the barest blush tower in the background.

Tulips in every shade imaginable line walkways, a rainbow stretching through the entirety of the garden. The cooling breeze brings the scent of lilacs and magnolias, the air sweet and fresh and heady.

Indeed it is the perfect day, so truly there is no reason for him to be so nervous. Yet, there he is pacing underneath a pergola, wisteria blooms dripping down and brushing against his head.

He had shooed the others away, tired of their endless chatter and vain attempts to bolster him. He knows nothing is going to calm him at this point… well, maybe a shot of strong liquor but he long ago decided that would be a very bad idea. So instead he tries to get rid of the restless energy by walking up and down, up and down, the gravel crunching under his shoes.

“It’s time.”

The fact it’s Serenity who has come to retrieve him gives him pause. He turns around and looks at her with a brow arched quizzically. She looks lovely in her grown, the palest shade of pink with an iridescence that lends it an otherworldly quality. Something truly befitting a queen.

She smiles softly at him and moves forward to link her arm with his. “The others were frightened after you nearly bit their heads off. They thought I would be safe.” Now her smile turns into a full on grin as she tilts her head back to look up at him.

“You don’t need to be so nervous, you know,” she says after they start on their way to the pavilion in the middle of the gardens. “This is as it should be. She looks beautiful, by the way,” she adds with a stage whisper.

He can’t help a smile from quirking the corner of his mouth. “Does she really?”

“Of course.” Serenity nods firmly. She starts to lead him through the back of the pavilion, makes certain he arrives at his marked place. The others are flanking him, looking amused.

Serenity adjusts his boutonniere, pats his lapel. “I’m happy for you both, and you shouldn’t worry. Not anymore. This is how it’s supposed to be.” With a final smile, she scampers down the aisle, disappearing just out of sight.

A moment passes and then the music starts, a soft lilting tune that weaves through the air. First are Lady Mercury and Lady Mars, followed quickly by Lady Venus and Queen Serenity. The princess trails behind her mother, her small hand dipping into her basket of rose petals and flinging them high to blanket the aisle.

He pays little to mind to anything further as she appears at the end of the aisle, her dress billowing about her legs, and a bouquet of roses and baby’s breath clutched in her hands. The veil atop her head of glossy curls is a gauzy affair that trails down her back, and to the floor to trail behind her.

Her cheeks are glowing and her eyes are bright, like perfect emeralds glittering against the sun. The smile she bestows him is incandescent as she starts her walk down the aisle.

Everything after is a blur, he knows they exchange their vows, is aware of Endymion prompting him when it’s time to place the ring on his bride’s finger. However, he needs no prompting when it comes time to kiss his wife.

He has fantasized about it a million times since he had first met her, so many life times ago, back when he thought he would never be privileged enough to know. So now he takes his time, and gently lays his lips against hers, barely brushing them.

One hand snakes its way to the back of her neck, the other wrapping around her waist. Then he tilts her backward, dipping her low as he deepens the kiss. Vaguely he is aware of the bawdy catcalls from his friends, the happy cheers sounding from hers.

Mostly he is only aware of the way one of her hands clutches at his shoulder, the other tangling in his hair as a soft moan sounds in the back of her throat.

Once he rights her, and pulls back just enough to admire the blissful look on her face, he realizes exactly what a lucky man he is, and how much he is looking forward to kissing his wife a million times and more.

~ Fin ~


End file.
